Hermione's Last Stand
by hpkiwi
Summary: A grieving Hermione has no time to mourn the 'loss' of Harry, as she charges headlong into the final battle, while evading spells, Death Eaters, Centaurs and elves, and finally confronts her old arch-nemesis. Before they realise what is happening, she, Ginny and Luna are locked in a lethal duel with Voldemort's crazed second-in-command. Fully ties in with the original novel.


_A/N: I was working on another totally different fic (involving missing moments between Ron and Ginny) when I had a little browse through the computer file marked 'HP Writing.' I got this little tidbit, polished it and published it. It was actually written back sometime in January-early Feb 2015, when I was just getting started on here. Originally intended as part of a multi-chapter fic covering the DA's exploits during the Battle of Hogwarts, the larger fic became abandoned. Enjoy!_

 _PS: This fic has a T rating because of the battle violence. While hardly a Tarantino, it's still a bit bloodier than JKR's original writing in some places._

As the battle spread from the Entrance Courtyard into the Entrance Hall and the Great Hall itself, Hermione felt herself buffeted by the overwhelming mob, and couldn't even afford a moment of grief for the boy who had over the last seven years become the best brother an only child could hope for. She had no choice but to go with the flow, ducking her head like they did as one of Voldemort's giants, now wrestling blindly with Grawp, knocked down part of a wall, and sent several suits of armour clattering to the ground. As she was shoved blindly into the Great Hall, she knew that with Harry gone, and everyone in the Order and DA in mortal danger there was only one option available to her.

Take as many of them down as possible. It didn't matter about her own personal safety, what with Harry gone.

The only concern was where to aim. Centaurs, Hogsmeade residents, students, teachers, and Order members were all duelling, kicking, punching, shooting and otherwise fighting ferociously, the flashes of silver, green and scarlet bright enough to cause an epileptic fit. Any shot on a masked, dark-robed fighter would be downright dangerous.

No, she just had to check and see if Ron, Neville, Ginny, Luna and the others were okay - she had to spot them in the crowd, and be able to leap to their aid. She couldn't let anything happen to them…

 _Whoosh._

An arrow fired from a centaur tore through the air barely an inch from her shoulder. Combatants, enemy and friendly alike scattered, as the sound of hooves on stone floor intensified, and countless individuals were bowled over by an enraged Bane, clearly looking for targets himself.

A bang, a streak of silver, and Bane's lower hindquarters opened up like a can of fruit, spraying scarlet droplets over the crowd. With a roar of rage, he turned towards his attacker, who was now trying to get a shot on Professor Flitwick's exposed back as he duelled Dolohov. Just then, Flitwick's _Everte Statum_ hit the Death Eater. With a cry, Dolohov's mask fell off as he was blown head over heels.

Bane reared onto his hindquarters, snorted angrily, and charged. Hermione had to duck out of the way for the umpteenth time that morning as the centaur galloped at his attacker.

Thorfinn Rowle, turning at the sound of the hooves, didn't stand a chance. His head turned and his eyes bulged with horror as the large black, vengeful centaur bore down on him, its right hoof flying out from underneath its body to come into painful contact with his exposed neck.

A loud, sickening _snap_ was heard by the crouching Hermione, some twenty feet away, as Rowle's neck twisted to an abnormal position. His mouth still opened in surprise, Bane's attacker fell senseless to the floor, the next of a long line of Death Eaters to fall over the last two minutes.

More twangs from bows, and the two Death Eaters duelling Ernie Macmillan and Susan Bones fell, scarlet stains spreading across their black robes as their hands plucked feebly at the black arrows that had done the damage.

Cautiously peering through the crowd again, Hermione shakily got to her feet. She could easily spot flaming red hair; Ron was duelling Greyback with Neville, and both currently seemed to be getting the better of him. Arthur Weasley and Percy had tackled Pius Thicknesse and were holding him down as, still under the Imperius Curse, he continued to thrash in vain to get his wand.

A cry of fear punctured her mind. "Draco!" It came from a tear-stained and anxious Narcissa Malfoy, not even bothering to fight, as she and Lucius struggled in vain to find their son.

The sound of a bullfrog voice shouting "Fight for brave Regulus! Fight!" made her turn. Kreacher, she was simultaneously alarmed, shocked and proud to see, had rallied the house-elves to their cause; they had grabbed every single bit of sharp cutlery they could from the kitchen, and were proceeding to cause havoc with them. Four Death Eaters went down in a matter of seconds, dragged down by repeated stabs in the leg with steak knives, and were subsequently trampled by the crowd, including Horace Slughorn, who was making a beeline towards his old favourite pupil. Voldemort was leaving a trail of (hopefully unconscious) bodies behind him as he ripped into the Hogwarts defences. She was just about to run after Slughorn, but then came a sound that made her blood run cold with fury.

A cackle, the same cackle that had haunted her and Ron's nightmares ever since that horrible night, as Bellatrix Lestrange leapt with a flourish over several of her wounded allies to kick, curse, and otherwise maim anyone she could reach. There was a cry as Natalie MacDonald clutched her hand to a gash in her left shoulder, which erupted blood violently. Next was Kevin Whitby, who crumpled as blood stained his lower robes from a deep cut above his knee.

A loud whinny of pain, and Magorian's left hoof was cursed right off, and he wobbled violently, finally succumbing to the serious injury. He fell, injuring more combatants as his flank began to sweat violently with exertion and pain. Bellatrix, wearing her trademark evil smile, approached the wounded centaur to finish him off for good.

Before Hermione could do anything more than make a sort of strangled sob of rage and begin running at the sadistic woman, she was knocked flat on her back as Kreacher, the fake locket bouncing on his toga, ran at Bellatrix's feet. His fork, while by no means lethal, slammed into her flesh just above her right shoe.

With a cry of rage, Bellatrix pirouetted to see who had inflicted the damage, and kicked Kreacher three feet into the air. The aged elf landed hard, knocking out more of his teeth as he moaned softly and spat blood. Dazed, he was unable to get to his feet as Bellatrix bore down on him.

" _You…"_ she spat venomously as Kreacher was kicked again, "…ungrateful…" _kick_ , "…scum-loving…" _kick_ , "…backstabbing little fiend! I helped you get rid of your hated master two years ago, and _this_ is how you repay me?"

She leant over Kreacher, now practically immobile on the floor and pointed her wand directly at his heart. His eyes were the only thing that moved, as Bellatrix leaned closer to yet another victim she had kicked into submission, and like with Hermione, she was now going to torture.

Unbidden memories of the mad-woman's never-ending curses, the dizziness, the blackouts, the pain she had inflicted, all came racing back to the forefront of Hermione's vision. Kreacher was _not_ going to have the same happen to him…

Unsheathing the wand that she had detested so much for what it had done, she aimed it at Bellatrix's back.

"Cruc-"

"Impedimenta!"

The jinx hit Bellatrix on the back, and she stiffened, slowly levitating as she struggled to turn and see her new challenger. As Bellatrix turned slowly, her eyes bulged with a combination of rage and sadistic excitement as she saw who was aiming her wand at herself.

As the seconds ticked by, Hermione aimed the dragon heartstring and walnut wand squarely at her heart.

A volley of six red projectiles left her wand, and shot towards Bellatrix's chest like glowing bullets. Her mad, wide eyes bulged with horror as she saw the lethal salvo coming for her.

And in the blink of an eye, the Impediment Jinx was lifted, and Bellatrix flicked her wand back across her body protectively as she would a knife. Hermione's salvo was stopped barely an inch from Bellatrix's chest. Her look of horror was replaced by a taunting sneer, showing her rotting teeth.

"Come on girly! Hit me with your best!"

Hermione's wand arm darted forwards like a striking cobra, and the non-verbal volley of Stunning Spells was shot at Bellatrix again. Ducking, she cackled.

"That's the best you can do Mudblood? Never fired an Unforgiveable? I believe I have some techniques to demonstrate to you… Crucio!"

Hermione ducked, the curse whipping through the top of her hair and hitting the wall behind her with a loud bang. Rolling sideways, she got to her feet, with nerves beginning to tingle. How could she win against Voldemort's second-in-command?

" _AVADA KEDAVRA!"_

Hermione dived sideways yet again to dodge the lethal jet of green; it passed so close she could hear its deathly rushing sound. The curse hit the flagstones, and left a smoking, charred crater where her head had been just a second before.

Bellatrix was holding her wand by her side, clearly believing she had time to toy with Hermione. Well, on her head be it…

Bellatrix taunted yet again.

"You need to _mean_ them! Have another shot, why don't you? I doubt you could even cast one…"

"No need," Hermione growled, anger outstripping fear again. "REDUCTO!" The curse ruffled Bellatrix's hair as she dodged it; an explosion of dust, rubble and glass was flung from the wall behind Bellatrix as the nearest window shattered.

Bellatrix leapt back into the flight as lithely as a cat, and the duel broke out in full force. Stunning Spells, Reductor Curses, leg-hopping jinxes, Full-Body Binds, Cruciatus Curses and more were flung violently at each other, but Hermione was fighting with a wand that hadn't chosen her; she hadn't won its allegiance, and each spell that she threw at the murderous witch in front of her seemed weak and ineffective…

"CRUCIO!"

A nasty, stinging sensation, and she was flung high into the air, landing once again on her back as Bellatrix, with the same sadistic look on her face, approached her. The 12 ¾ inch stick of walnut and dragon heartstring rolled out of her hand, and along the floor, well out of reach. Hermione simply couldn't understand why the curse hadn't hit her so severely this time around. There had been pain, yes, but not excruciating agony…

Bellatrix raised the wand.

"We have unfinished business," she hissed. "I'll retake what is mine in a moment, but first, why not another little dose?"

Her next act of violence was interrupted by a shrill chirping, as dozens of tiny black bats began crawling out of her nostrils, and almost totally obscuring her view. With a cry of rage, Bellatrix vanished the bat bogeys, but was still concentrating on her main prey.

"How about not?" growled an incredibly angry, vengeful voice. Ginny, who, along with Luna, had their wands out and were ready for a lethal duel.

Bellatrix whipped round, a forked jet of green shooting out of her wand at both girls, who ducked as the curse hit the Gryffindor hourglass on the other side of the Great Hall.

As Ginny and Luna recovered and fired a set of Stunners at Bellatrix, Hermione began crawling across the floor, scrambling for the wand. So many people….it could so easily get snapped. Finally, her hand closed on it, and she whipped around and re-joined the fight with vigour. The air was full of blurs and flashes as all three girls fought the maddened Bellatrix harder than they'd fought any other combatant, who was firing of salvos of Killing Curses and _Sectumsempra_ in every angle. All were fighting to kill, as the stone floor began to radiate heat through their shoes.

"Duck!" Hermione yelled at Luna, and Ginny had to pull the younger girl out of the way as a Killing Curse hit the table behind her.

Luna recovered, ignoring the several wood splinters imbedded in her cheeks as she re-joined the fight.

With a whirl around her head, a rope of fire shot out of the end of Hermione's wand and enveloped Bellatrix, who blasted it to smoke and shot another Killing Curse, which Hermione yet again miraculously avoided, both Luna and Ginny retaliated with silver curses which blasted holes in the wall behind Bellatrix, then Hermione shot _Confringo_ , which Bellatrix yet again deflected, Ginny then proceeded to throw another Bat Bogey at Bellatrix, while Luna got a clean shot with a Stunning Spell. Both were shrugged off by Bellatrix like water off a duck's back, and Hermione knew they were all in trouble; their reactions were getting slower, and by some twisted stroke of bad fortune, Bellatrix was holding her own while outnumbered three to one. If this duel continued much longer, someone would definitely die…

"Duck, Ginny!" Hermione yelled desperately as she cast a Disintegration Curse at Bellatrix, who blocked it even as she shot a Killing Curse straight at Ginny. The green jet just missed her right ear, continued through her hair, and exploded when it hit the table behind her. As all three girls opened their mouths with shock and as Bellatrix cackled gleefully, a cry of pure rage, terror and bloodlust punctuated the entire Great Hall.

"NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!"


End file.
